One of downtown Washington DC's most visible buildings may soon be developed into a 9-story retail-centered mixed-use project; that is, if it's not foreclosed on. Sitting next to DC's Chinatown 
arch, one of the few exceptions to downtown's shiny newness is 801 7th Street.
Yeni Wong and her Gallery Towers LLC were served a notice of foreclosure for the two contiguous lots at 675 H Street and 801 7th Street, NW in October for the $13,491,471 note plus attorney's fees. Wong, President of Riverdale International, reportedly paid more than $10m for the property in 2006. The lots were slated for auction on November 17th, but the sale was canceled, according to the office of David Prensky at DC's Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs.
The corner of 7th and H housed a CVS, but now sits vacant and boarded with signs promising construction that has yet to begin. Owner Wong started a public dispute by filing a law suit in 
September 2006 against then tenant, CVS, after the store refused to vacate the premises despite an eviction notice in the spring of 2006. Wong wanted the CVS out to facilitate the LLC's plans to develop the site for a mix of uses including office, residential and retail. According to the website of developer DRI, a Transwestern Company, 675 H Street was to become home to two buildings: one would restore the corner space and rise 9 stories over the arch, the other would be a new Class A office building behind the main storefronts. The total project would have yielded 110,000 s.f. of office space and 50,000 s.f. of retail. The planned development never came to fruition and between October 2008 and February 2009 Gallery Towers had 4 liens placed on their Chinatown property. In the meantime, Eichberg Construction briefly began work last summer after fencing off the site, but work quickly halted. Washington DC real estate news
6 comments:
"Primo" -- very appropriate next to the Chinatown arch.
Looks like a lot of bad decisions and bad planning by the owner.
Too bad - now it is a total eyesore.
cvs is somewhat to fault for not leaving when it should have.
According to the WBJ, Doug Jemal and McCafferty Interests have purchased the note and will likely own this site -- look for the project to actually move forward once Yeni Wong is out of the picture. What's more, most (if not all) of the retail is leased...
Jemal should dust off the remains of the Waffle Shop and rebuild it in the lobby. The area has tons of foot traffic, directly across from Metro, and every condo dweller wants a good cup of coffee in their lobby.
Does that mean Jemal owns three of the four corners now?
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